New Years Letter 2015

Dear Family & Friends—

I never seem to get the Christmas letter for our family done in time for Christmas (nor do I ever seem to have the motivation to).  But for some reason I tend to get that motivation by the time the New Year is rolling around.  So this is our Christmas letter for 2015 New Year’s Letter for 2016!!

In recent years, we’ve had major moves at least every other year (ProvoàCedar Rapids and back in 2011, ProvoàHannibal in 2012, and HannibalàSt. Charles [outer suburbs of Chicago] in 2014), so it was nice to not have any moves during 2015.  We’ve continued to enjoy the Chicago area (particularly enjoying it from afar—it’s nice to not live very close to the city itself, but still be able to visit when we’d like.  We’ve had a membership at the Museum of Science and Industry during most of the past year, and we’ve enjoyed visiting there a number of times throughout the year.

Even though we didn’t move, we still managed to keep it a busy year!  Most notable was the birth of our 4^th child, Peter Zachary Jones, on June 2^nd!  We were very excited to welcome him into our family and we’ve immensely enjoyed the 7 months we’ve had with him so far!  He’s a very happy baby and his most recent way of keeping us on our toes has been learning to crawl.  It’s now a daily surprise to find out where he’s wandered off to.

Abby (2 ½) has exploded with her language skills this year.  It’s been a lot of fun to have her find her voice, which Lisa’s mother assures us sounds just like Lisa did when she was a young girl.  Abby enjoys doing puzzles and hanging out with her Daddy.  This year she’s started to enjoy being read to, and especially likes Llama Llama books. 

Savanna (4 ½) is still going to Pre-School, and has started to learn to read this year.  She’s particularly enjoying Magic School Bus books, and is able to read many of the shorter words herself.  We love her boundless optimism and her enthusiasm!  Savanna has been enjoying taking dance classes and learning ballet and tap dance.  She’s excited to start Kindergarten this coming year.

Alex (6 ½) started 1^st grade, so it’s been the first year of all day school for him.  He still loves it a great deal, and has started to become a voracious reader.  For the second year in a row, he’s participated in the elementary school’s chess program, and this year got 2^nd place for his age bracket in the tournament. 

Lisa has loved having a new little baby roaming around the house, and that’s kept her busy during the 2^nd half of the year.  Four months ago she was called to be a counselor in the presidency of the children’s Primary organization at Church.  It was with heavy heart that she said goodbye to her sister Becky, who passed away right before Christmas. We were grateful to be able to go and be with family to say goodbye, and we are especially grateful for the knowledge we have of the Plan of Salvation and the hope Becky had in the promise of peace and rest. Lisa’s doing a fantastic job of teaching our children life lessons and I’m continually appreciative of all she does for our family.  She’s the glue that holds us all together!

For my part, it’s been an interesting year!  I’ve been teaching early morning high school seminary all year, so it’s been fun to delve into the Doctrine and Covenants, and then the Old Testament, with my seminary class (though the mornings are early)!  I’ve rediscovered playing with Legos, and have designed a few models of my own, some of which I’ve been able to build. 

In July at work, General Mills announced that they will close the plant I work at in waves over the next year and a half.  That has made for an interesting and challenging few months since the announcement.  There’s much Human Resources work to be done in a situation like this!  I’ve been getting to lead efforts to help employees transition from General Mills to other companies or locations.  We’ve just had the first wave of layoffs (entirely made up of people who were willing to go earlier, thankfully), and I’m hopeful that something will connect for me elsewhere in the company in between now and February 2017, when the final wave of layoffs happens.  We’re confident that we’ll land on our feet somewhere, whether with General Mills or elsewhere—Heavenly Father has given us great peace with regards to that!

So it promises to be an exciting and eventful year in 2016 for us!  We’re excited to see what the Lord has in store for us during this new year, whatever it is!  We’re grateful for all the blessings he’s given us and the opportunities that he provides us!  We hope that 2016 is a fantastic year for all of you, and that the Lord blesses you and those you hold dear!

Sincerely,

The Jones Family (Keith, Lisa, Alex, Savanna, Abby, and Peter)